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Re: Me-163 Profiles

Re: Me-163 Profiles

Originally Posted by flamethrowerguy

I guess...but I also read that the propeller was needed for speed measuring.

Not quite: in the Me.163 the propeller (more correctly, impellor) drives an electric generator which powers the radio, the Revi16B,C, or D reflector gunsight, the directionfinder, the mastercompass, the firing circuits of the cannons, and some of the lighting in the cockpit instrumentation.
There was an onboard lead/acid battery, but its' capacity was limited, as was it's endurance, no more than about 10 minutes or so, hence the fitted generator.

Speed measurement was an averaged function displayed on an airspeed indicator. This device averaged readings from two sources: The pitot tube on the leading edge of the port wing, and a small pitot inlet in the nose, just above the top edge of the underskid channel (you can see it as the small protuberance below the impellor, in the excellent illustrations: Note: the towing eye was in the top of the underskid channel, and should Not be confused for the fuselage pitot inlet). There was a further tapping-off of pressure-ducted air from the pitot tube which also provided the rate of climb indicator with its' source.

Perhaps surprisingly, for all its' technical demands, the Me.163 was rather undemanding, of electricity, unless it was also fitted with various specialist weapon systems such as the photocell-triggered vertical shell projectors or RM4 unguided rockets, in which case the generator was usually replaced by a more potent version.

Re: Me-163 Profiles

Thanks for Spaate's red komet looks very nice, as always.

Speaking of the sights, I have heard that the Komet was too fast to actually aim at anything, so somebody had the bright idea to use photo-whatnots (I forgot the name, pardon me) so that the MK１０８ｓ would fire when a bomber was in front.